UM, USF and ND just received accreditation in 2023. Your comment "they have absolutely no clue how this stuff works" is way off base. The FSU president and administration have AAU as a primary goal and they are putting in a major effort to ramp up every aspect that is considered in AAU evaluation from academic ranking to research expenditures and even into expanding health care involvement. Do "fans" underestimate difficulty in achieving final approvals ... most likely. But the FSU academic ranking has improved significantly since 2000 and their research expenditures for 2024 reached $455 million, basically the same level as Miami's 2023 reported figure, and their stated goal is to increase.
If the media partners want them in the B10 I really don't see AAU as being an obstacle as they ARE working to get there ... while Nebraska might be risking getting the boot if they don't get their house in order.
Okay, you are talking about two audiences now. I have no idea what the administration thinks, but I’m sure they have a fine handle on it. The fans - to whom I was referring - absolutely have no idea how this works, as the majority do think they could be granted AAU status very soon. They do not realize that this takes DECADES. UM’s administration began working on getting AAU status in the 1980s and JUST gained it recently. The AAU also does not admit on an annual basis, or anywhere even close to it. So it’s great that the university is putting efforts into this and investing into health care, but 1) that doesn’t mean they will get AAU status within the next few years (i.e., the timeline in which they want to leave the ACC), 2) investing in one area of the university is possibly not enough, as FSU’s research expenditures are mostly based in the sciences, and the AAU likes breadth and diversity, and 3) the academic ranking of one publication is not their main focus, as they care more about (in addition to the research we’ve already discussed), faculty publications and awards, success of graduate programs (particularly medicine, business, and law - and FSU’s med program is young, comparatively), and most importantly, and AAU membership is meant to be a collaborative partnership among members, what the university does that is unique and special, and what they can bring g to the table to help the other members with research. All this takes a lot of time. I never said FSU will never get there. They absolutely could get there. But yes, anyone who thinks that it is going to happen very soon, and in the next year or two, is naive.
Also, I have nothing against FSU as an academic institution (I came quite close to going to law school there), but FSU, and UF, and UGA, and Clemson, and USC, and Alabama, and all the other D1 public schools in the southeast have predominantly benefited in the USNWR rankings due to population growth in the South over the past twenty years. Even Georgia Tech, who was already highly ranked, has benefitted. This has been well-documented.
Finally, I mentioned NOTHING with regard to FSU and the impact that their AAU status (or lack thereof) would have on them joining the Big10. In fact, in a recent post, earlier today in this thread, to another poster, I said quite the opposite and that I am very curious to know the answer. I have no opinions on this topic either way. We will see if the conference still cares, or if they do, if the networks outweigh their voice.